Independent music venue Hidden Agenda was raided on Tuesday night by police, hygiene and land officials, who demanded it to stop operating as a performance venue.

The raid took place during a concert by Canadian and Hong Kong bands Braids and So It Goes. A Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) official posed as a concert-goer, and purchased a ticket as evidence that the venue held performances without a place of public entertainment licence.

It now operates officially as a takeaway food stall, after successfully obtaining a food factory licence from the FEHD. It does not have a place of public entertainment licence, as it is located in an industrial building.

Photo: Yuen Chi-chung

Founder Hui Chung-wo said that he asked for advice from several government agencies, government art institutions and legislators before choosing the current operational arrangement.

“It doesn’t matter whether Hidden Agenda survives in the future,” wrote Hui on Tuesday. “It matters that the government has ignored the rights of industrial building users for so many years, and their contributions to Hong Kong’s cultural sector.”

Wow what a night! It seems only yesterday we looked up at the bands playing on the legendary Hidden Agenda stage and…

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